what is the significance of the red guards slogan "to rebel is justified"?
War History online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Dean Smith
"At this moment of potential national emergency, Mao chose to smash the Chinese State and the Communist Party. He launched what he hoped would prove a final assail on the stubborn remnants of traditional Chinese civilization – from the rubble of which he prophesized, would ascension a new, ideologically pure generation better equipped to safeguard the revolutionary cause from its domestic and foreign foe. He propelled Mainland china into a decade-long ideological frenzy, vicious fanatical politics, and virtually civil state of war known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." – Henry Kissinger, On Red china
Following the disaster of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the resulting famine, the position of Chairman Mao and his revolutionary ideology were in jeopardy. Mao was forced to retire as the Head of State only nonetheless stayed on as the Chairman of the Communist Party.
Mao had an inherent desire to revive the revolutionary spirit that had prevailed during the communist revolution a generation earlier. This manifested itself in what was to be known as the Cultural Revolution (Dikötter, 2016).
The exact causes of the Cultural Revolution are complex and multi-faceted. Aspects such equally Mao's purge of his enemies inside the political party, the desire to create an ideologically pure lodge, the socio-political fallout of the disastrous Great Leap Forward, Cathay'due south international position, and the deteriorating relationship betwixt China and the USSR all played major roles (Kraus, 2012).
The events of the Cultural Revolution took place between 1966 and 1976. It was during this flow that Mao attempted to reignite the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese population by attempting to vanquish the remnants of the erstwhile lodge.
Even though the sometime bourgeois ruling form had been defeated, information technology was feared that the values that they represented were however entrenched inside society and the psyche of the population. Mao singled out the four "Olds" that had to be vanquished, in order to create a new, ideologically pure, communist gild (MacFarquhar, 2008).
These were:
- Old Ideas
- Old Civilization
- One-time Customs
- Onetime Habits
In order to regain control over the party and reassert a revolutionary spirit within the nation, Mao mobilized an arguably underutilized resource – students and young adults. These individuals formed themselves into grassroots revolutionary organizations that referred to themselves as the Red Guard.
This involved a quasi-war machine uniform of loose-fitting fatigues, a leather belt – which was often used equally a weapon to beat opponents with – and a cherry armband with the insignia of the Red Guard on information technology, an item that became symbolic of the Cultural Revolution (Esherick, 2008).
Historian Frank Dikotter accurately summarises Mao's logic in instigating the Red Baby-sit and their activities.
"Mao went straight to the students, seeing in the young his most reliable allies. They were impressionable, easy to manipulate and eager to fight. Most of all, they craved a more active role" (Dikotter, 2016)
In a spoken communication to the Carmine Guard in Tiananmen Square on August 18th, 1966, Mao whipped the Reddish Guard up into an ideological frenzy, stating that to rebel was justified and making articulate that the "Four Olds" must be purged from Chinese gild.
For a while, the Blood-red Baby-sit received a form of tacit support from the state, which turned a blind middle to the violence. Quotes from Mao's "Trivial Crimson Volume" were taken as inspiration for revolutionary violence. Furthermore, Mao openly wore the armband of the Blood-red Guard during rallies, giving a symbolic indication of his support for their deportment.
By 1967, Mao was forced to reel in the blood-red guards due to the carnage they were unleashing upon the state. In less than a year Prc had plunged into a state of practical civil war, with the Cherry-red Guard carrying out horrendous acts of violence against anyone they perceived to be an enemy of the revolution. Infighting was also common, with unlike factions of the Baby-sit carrying out attacks on 1 another for various ideological or personal reasons (Esherick, 2006).
With the Red Guard inflicting heavy tolls on both Mao's enemies within the party, and anyone they perceived as being counter-revolutionary, the stage was prepare for Mao's consolidation of ability within the party.
"To Rebel is Justified" – Mao
The Crimson Baby-sit inflicted systematic humiliation and terror upon anyone they perceived to be an enemy of the revolution. This included individuals who came from the wrong class groundwork, remnants of the picayune bourgeois, anyone who was classified as a "capitalist roader", teachers, members of the party, local government officials, and sometimes even their own parents (Clark, 2008).
The violence inflicted by the Red Guard was initially intended to humiliate individuals who they perceived as embodying the old ways and thus enemies of the revolution. Individuals were oft publicly beaten and shamed, whilst being forced to vesture placards or "dunce hats" with their alleged crimes written on them.
Every bit the revolution progressed the acts of violence rapidly became more intense, with individuals regularly being browbeaten to death and others opting to commit suicide rather than die at the hands of the Red Guard attackers.
Estimates of the death toll vary wildly. Notwithstanding, most put the loss of life somewhere betwixt 400,000 and 3 meg. This is due in part to the localized environment of many of the acts of violence and because the authorities actively tried to cover up and censor the reports of violence in later years.
For example, between Baronial and September 1966, roughly 1772 people were murdered in Beijing alone. However, in the Wuhan district, the violence claimed but 32 lives yet resulted in 62 suicides. In sure parts of the land, the average daily death price was in the hundreds.
Show suggests that the violence was heterogeneous, with the levels of violence differing between provinces. The violence carried out by the Red Guard was grassroots and self-propelling, it was not directed and controlled by the state authority.
Many of the individuals who became prominent in the Chinese regime in the decades following the death of Mao were at one-signal members of the Cherry Guard.
Furthermore, violence was non limited to personal attacks. Temples, shrines, statues, and symbols of the former cultural traditions were destroyed. This was near apparent in the desecration of the grave of Confucius, who, by the standards of the revolutionaries, embodied the erstwhile traditions of Prc.
It should also be noted that non all of the violence perpetrated during this catamenia was inherently ideological in motivation. Many of the attacks were carried out confronting individuals who the attacking guard members had personal vendettas against.
It was not uncommon for roving bands of revolutionary Red Guards to single out and extract vengeance upon individuals or groups with whom they had a long-standing personal vendetta. Information technology seems that personal motivations were inherently linked in with the political when it comes to acts of violence in revolutionary China.
According to interviews conducted with ex-members in later life by Frank Dikotter, information technology can be shown that the Cerise Guard were active participants in the Cultural Revolution. They chose to commit the acts they did, they were not simply swept up in the political automobile of the state or a "culture of cruelty". They were consciously agile and willing participants.
Personal accounts of the cultural revolution
There are endless accounts of the brutality and terror that the Red Guard inflicted on the population.
Some anecdotes from survivors read every bit such:
"Several hundred villagers were also ordered by authorities to attend and to "struggle" with the "struggle target" or "grade enemy" by verbally, and sometimes physically, abusing him or her.
"My father was labeled a 'history counterrevolutionary' and was required to have that title pinned to his clothes on a card at all times, in public and at habitation. The criticizing meetings were organized by a Cultural Revolution Leading Committee, a special governing bureau of the Communist Party. During the meetings, my male parent had to kneel for over three hours while people berated him loudly and violently. People shouted over and over: "Beat out down Liu Shibao! Vanquish down Liu Shibao!" Some people fabricated upwards false stories about my father, making people hate him. Some people became very riled-up and out of command that they would spit at him and beat him."
– Yukui Liu, A Memoir of China'due south Cultural Revolution
"I call back the Chinese version of Kristallnacht in summer 1966 when waves of Red Guards from different factions repeatedly stormed my bourgeois neighborhood … terrorizing the innocent, ransacking homes and parading victims through the streets for the purpose of public humiliation."
– Zehou Zhou, Manchester Township, Pa.
Afterwards the Ruby Guard were quelled and sent to the country for the purpose of re-instruction, the military took an active role in maintaining the state.
The violence associated with the cultural revolution later dissipated and the era finally concluded in 1976 with the death of Mao and the abort of his supporters.
Source: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/red-guard-and-cultural-revolution.html
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